Washing machine appliances generally form a wash fluid to clean clothing articles disposed within a wash basket of the appliance. The wash fluid can include water and various fluid additives, e.g., detergent, fabric softener, and/or bleach. The fluid additives can be mixed with water within a wash tub of the appliance in order to form the wash fluid.
To introduce fluid additive into the wash tub, a user can manually add the fluid additive to the wash tub and/or the wash basket. For example, after starting the appliance, the user can pour detergent directly into the wash basket. Conversely, certain washing machine appliances include features for receiving fluid additives and dispensing the fluid additives during operation of the appliance. For example, a tray or container mounted to a top panel of a vertical axis washing machine appliance can receive a fluid additive and direct the fluid additive into a wash tub of the appliance. Similarly, a horizontal axis washing machine appliance can include a drawer with a container mounted therein that receives a fluid additive and directs the fluid additive into a wash tub of the appliance.
However, in both vertical and horizontal axis washing machine appliances, a separate tray or container is generally provided for each particular fluid additive. Thus, for example, a washing machine appliance can require a container for detergent, a container for fabric softener, and a container for bleach. Certain design constraints can limit the effectiveness of using multiple containers to direct fluid additives into the wash tub.
In particular, the washing machine appliance's wash basket is typically rotatably mounted within the wash tub. Thus, the wash basket spins within the wash tub during operation of the appliance. The containers described above generally direct fluid additives into a gap defined between the wash tub and the wash basket. However, the location of the gap relative to the containers can change, particularly when the wash basket is spinning and the washing machine is installed out of level. In turn, fluid additive intended to be directed into the gap between the wash tub and wash basket can spill out of the appliance or onto articles in the wash basket when the shape of the gap changes. For example, bleach intended to be directed into the gap can damage clothing articles if the bleach is applied directly onto the articles in the wash basket rather than entering the gap between the wash tub and wash basket.
Accordingly, a washing machine appliance with features for improved handling of fluid additives would be useful. Also, a washing machine appliance with features for hindering spilling and/or leaking of fluid additives would be useful. In particular, a washing machine appliance with features for more reliably directing fluid additives into a gap between a wash basket and a wash tub of the appliance would be useful.